Transforming the Culture of Medicine (with Dr. Robert Pearl)

The Doctor's Art

Henry Bair and Tyler Johnson

Medicine, Society & Culture, Health & Fitness, Philosophy

5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 12 July 2022

⏱️ 55 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As former CEO of the Permanente Medical Group, Dr. Robert Pearl was responsible for the work of 50,000 healthcare workers and the medical care of 5 million Americans through Kaiser Permanente hospitals across the country. A leading expert on healthcare management and strategy, Dr. Pearl is the author of two bestselling books, “Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Healthcare–And Why We’re Usually Wrong” and “Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors and Patients,” a regular contributor to Forbes, and the host of several popular medical podcasts. He is a board-certified plastic and reconstructive surgeon, clinical professor at Stanford Medicine, and lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In this episode, Dr. Pearl shares his thoughts on why American healthcare is failing not only patients but also physicians, and what we can do to address inherent problems in the culture of medicine.

In this episode, you will hear about:

Dr. Pearl’s journey to a career in plastic surgery - 2:13
Grappling with complications that arise during surgery - 9:40
Dr. Pearl’s transition from surgeon to CEO of the Permanente Medical Group - 12:49
The mission that Dr. Pearl brought to his role as CEO and how he implemented that mission - 17:21
How Dr. Pearl paved a path for increasing both the quality of care and physician satisfaction, while keeping costs low, and why so often these goals seem at odds with each other - 20:32
The toxic culture of denial in medicine and why it is killing doctors and patients - 27:45
How status and compensation disparity contributes to physician burnout, and what to do about it - 35:47
Dr. Pearl’s administrative strategy that led Kaiser Permanente to much success during his tenure as CEO - 43:08
Dr. Pearl’s advice to physicians on how to stay connected and empowered in their careers - 46:38

Dr. Robert Pearl is:

Author of two books: Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Healthcare - And Why We’re Usually Wrong; and Uncaring: How the Culture of Medicine Kills Doctors & Patients, with all proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders
A frequent contributor to Forbes Magazine
The host of two podcasts: Fixing Healthcare and Coronavirus: The Truth

Find more information at RobertPearlMD.com or follow Dr. Pearl on Twitter @RobertPearlMD

Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.

If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Henry Bear.
0:03.4	And I'm Tyler Johnson.
0:04.8	And you're listening to the Doctors' Art, a podcast that explores meaning in medicine.
0:09.9	Throughout our medical training and career, we have pondered, what makes medicine meaningful?
0:15.2	Can a stronger understanding of this meaning create better doctors?
0:18.8	How can we build healthcare institutions that nurture the doctor-patient connection?
0:23.1	What can we learn about the human condition from accompanying our patients in times of suffering?
0:28.0	In seeking answers to these questions, we meet with deep thinkers working across healthcare,
0:33.1	from doctors and nurses to patients and healthcare executives, those who have collected a career's worth of harder and wisdom.
0:40.2	Proving the moral heart that beats at the core of medicine, we will hear stories that are by turns heartbreaking,
0:45.6	amusing, inspiring, challenging, and enlightening.
0:49.3	We welcome anyone curious about why doctors do what they do.
0:52.9	Join us as we think out loud about what illness and healing can teach us about some of life's biggest questions.
1:03.4	The Permanente Medical Group is the single largest medical group in the United States,
1:07.6	with around 10,000 doctors and 35,000 nurses in its network,
1:11.8	caring for nearly 5 million patients through the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan and its affiliated hospitals.
1:18.0	Kaiser Permanente has established itself as a leader in integrated care, disease prevention, and early intervention.
1:25.2	Our guest today is Dr. Robert Pearl, a plastic surgeon who was CEO of the Permanente Medical Group from 1999 to 2017.
1:34.6	Dr. Pearl is the author of two best-selling books on the strengths and flaws of American medicine
1:40.0	and as a regular contributor to Forbes magazine.
1:43.1	In addition, he hosts two popular podcasts, Fixing Healthcare and Coronavirus, The Truth.
1:49.4	Details of his writings and podcasts can be found in the program notes.
	...

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